


Arcane Elements

by Coffeebreakcreations



Series: Abstractionverse [4]
Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Gen, M/M, Magic, Mentors, Superpowers, apprentices
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25051081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coffeebreakcreations/pseuds/Coffeebreakcreations
Summary: orA German, a Frenchman, an Italian and a Uruguayan walk into abarunderground library....orThe life and adventures of Leon Goretzka, Marco Veratti and Lucas Torreira under the mentorship of Olivier Giroud as they train and master the arcane arts.
Series: Abstractionverse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751947
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Arcane Elements

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [colorsofmyseason](https://archiveofourown.org/users/colorsofmyseason/pseuds/colorsofmyseason) for the support and being very very very patient with my long production time. I hope you like this haha.
> 
> \---  
> Reading her AU, specially her mysticism towards her wizards made me appreciate my kinda version of them in my AU, Arcaneologists. I really had fun writing this, specially characterizing the guys this way.
> 
> I hope you enjoy :)

Leon ran his fingers through the rough stone, admiring the masonry of the Biblioteca Nacional de España. The powerful magic that weaved through the walls made his fingertips tingle. It must be layers upon layers of cloaking from outsiders, shielding from invaders, and protection from natural disasters. The veins of magic chanting its spells as it coursed through the building.  
  
His jaw was slightly ajar with awe as he looked around, the circular hall revealing itself. Its architecture is godly, rivaling even the most opulent churches in Italy. 

The hidden library is parted in three rings. The first ring is the thickest and contained the bookshelves, its access and study areas littered around it. The second ring is the thinnest, a shimmering river that gives the entire library its dark blue haze, it has arched bridges connecting to the innermost ring. It is an arena with an open ceiling letting soft light flood through the center. The light source? Leon could not figure out. There were armor stands neatly arranged in its edges. Leon assumed that this must be where the Arcaneologists practice the spells they learn and invent.

The arches that held the ceiling of the first two rings were gigantic and imposing. Various symbols and sigils were carved onto it. Some had precious gems embedded on it emitting a pulsating glow as if it was breathing.

Now more than ever is Leon more convinced that the entire library is alive. There is a crisp clicking of his boots to the marble tiles, the river wooshing in the second ring, the soothing humm of the atmosphere heavy with magic. The sound it echoes is vibrant and makes the place even more animated.

“Where do you think Oli is?”

Marco Verratti asked right behind him. This must not be his first time in this library as he sounded bored. Leon found his disposition odd, you can never get enough of a place as majestic as this. He isn’t even paying attention to where he is stepping, if he is even walking, Leon has never heard any footsteps coming from behind.

He looked and saw Marco actually levitating a few inches from the ground. His right hand was raised in the level of his head, his palm pointing inwards as three open spellbooks glowed and orbited around him.

“He said he’s gonna catch up with someone in Madrid and he'll be joining us late.”

The Italian sighed, “More time to read before his lessons, I guess.”

Effectively ending his query, Marco returned to his books. His pupils gave off a faint yellow shimmer, bordering it as he stared blankly in the distance. Leon shrugged at this. Marco wasn’t really the talkative type whenever they convene. Oli mostly leaves him on his own and almost in an instant he turns into a statue surrounded with books.

Most of the time Oli has all of his attention on Leon. It’s not that Leon is having difficulties learning the ways of his abstraction; It’s more a matter of unlearning his brute force approach in practicing it.

During training back in Germany, he was always focused on the combat aspects of being an Arcaneologist. Always learn new spells. More powerful, more destructive. The fact that there is a guiding philosophy behind it is a foreign concept to Leon.

So yes, he may be trailing behind a little bit, but he’s certain that he’s starting to rapidly grow his pace with more formal mentoring from Oli.

“What are you reading.”

“Basic utilities.”

Leon shook his head, he had expected something bombastic. Advanced combat spells, teleportation theories, conjuration techniques. Basic utilities is not something he’d think of when asked about useful spells. He sighed. There is a lot to unlearn, still.

“What kind?”

“You know, light fixtures, force bridges, calming aura, night vision. Things that you think you can get away without, but would be extremely life saving in oddly specific situations. Plus, Oli is going to show me advanced things later on anyway, might as well balance it out with something miniscule but useful.”

Now that he thought about it. Basic utilities is the one thing he’d always promise to get on with, however like a toddler he’s always distracted with the shiniest flashiest spells. Leon ought to bring a couple of spellbooks back to Germany.

Marco closed his fist. The spell books snapped shut as well. He flicked his wrist into a clockwise motion and all three zoomed towards the nearest desk downstairs. He softly landed back to the ground and walked with Leon. However, not a few moments later he stops in his tracks, looking curious.

“What’s the matter?”

“Something odd.”

“What?”  
  
“I have to check.”  
  


With that Marco immediately dashed off. Worried, Leon ran after him, charging a simple lightning spell on the way.

His brows furrowed, eyes sharpened and lightning crackled in his fingertips as frustration started to cloud Leon as he desperately followed Marco through the maze of books, apparatus, and tables. He could easily catch up to him, if only he didn't need to weave through an obstacle course for academics.

By then, Marco had already been crossed third of the entire length of the first ring. Leon huffed and took a sharp turn going to the innermost ring instead. The bricks of the second ring were slippery and wet that he had to slow down a bit. When he crossed the border of the innermost ring, it’s as if an invisible force brushed through him. He felt a subtle sensation as his body crossed from the wet brickwork to the dusty arena.

He ignored it and pushed forward. In the distance, behind the blue haze, Leon saw a silhouette of a person sitting down, pressed against the wall. The lightning intensified in his fingertips, ready to strike if there’s an assailant lurking around.

Marco had already bent down, inspecting the body when Leon arrived. As he took one step further, his arm snapped back at him, gesturing Leon to stand down. Leon followed.

“Turn that down, there’s no need.”

Leon allowed the lightning to dissipate and tried to approach Marco, the body still not clear from his view. However, Marco repeated the gesture, before standing up. When the Italian faced him, he was looking relieved, which puzzled Leon as there’s clearly an unmoving body right behind him.

“Is it?”  
  
“He’s alive and well.”

The Italian moved away, clearing the view to Leon.

“Thats.”

“Lucas, yes.”

Now that Leon had a clear view, Lucas wasn’t slumped against the wall afterall. In fact, his posture was rigid sitting down, legs crossed, his back straight, his head perfectly aligned on it. He had his hands curled into a fist pressing against each other, his arms straight on the level of his chest. His eyes and jaw were clamped shut.

“Meditating. Typical.”

“How long has he been there?”

“Seems to be here for a while now.”

“Oli took him here first?”

“I think he got here by himself.”

When they arrived at the library upstairs, it took Marco ages to find the hidden access. Oli had told them that the hidden access changes every once in a while, scattered across the entire building. He never told Leon the way to find it since Marco already knew. Despite being familiar, however, Marco still needed Leon to boost his sensory magic in order to find the door. The fact that Lucas was able to find it by himself was impressive to him.“Why did you run out earlier?”

“I sensed a high concentration of magic across the library. It was all over the place so I couldn’t really pinpoint where it was coming from.”

Marco observed Lucas

“Didn’t really expect it to come from this kid. He’s even more powerful than the last time we saw him.”

To hear Marco, who Leon seldom gets any enthusiasm from, talk so highly of Lucas Torreira with great awe. He can only imagine what kind of magic courses through the young Uruguayan's veins. Somehow he's both curious and fearful for the Arcaneological feats he can achieve. Perhaps he could spar with him sometime just to see what talent looks like. But it's unlikely that Oli would agree to such an unbalanced match if ever.

"Should we wake him? Oli will be arriving anytime soon."

"That won't be necessary."

Leon turned to Marco, thinking that the odd echoed voice came from him but instead found him looking at the innermost circle. In the middle of the arena was a thin sparkle of light spiraling outwards. Soon enough an image of what looked like the interior of a lavishly decorated room appeared.

Hints of fine architecture, expensive silk, and furnitures masterfully crafted revealed itself. Leon approached the projection and found it to be as thin as a sheet of paper. He slowly reached out, fingers almost touching the projection until a voice spoke, now clear and familiar.

"I appreciate the curiosity, Mr. Goretzka but please, hands off the portal."

Leon stepped back as Oli emerged from it walking backwards, in the middle of wrapping up a conversation.

"I am grateful for the hospitality of the Spanish Order, Sergio but may I insist you reconsider joining us in your very own National Library?"

"I really can't Oli, maybe some other time,” Sergio answered.

He smiled and arched his head into a small bow, "Please extend my thanks to the captain, then."

With one swipe of his right hand, Oli closed the portal with a huff.  
  
“That was torture. Busquets and I have been friends for so long and even fought side by side one time. However, being Hugo’s right hand I kind of need to restrain myself from getting too casual.” Oli lamented as he faced Leon. He relaxed his formal composure, giving him a casual smirk.  
  
He threw his arm over the German’s shoulders. Leon blushed. Oli held him close as they walked to where Marco and Lucas were.

“You’ve got to teach me how to create portals.”

“Not so fast, but we’re gonna get there. Have you been reading up on the principles of material displacement?”  
  
“I’ve been catching up on it, I think I kind of understand what it’s trying to say about matter and energy.”  
  
“Good, I’m going to check your application for it later.”

Oli tapped him on his shoulder, letting go of him as he ran to Marco.  
  
Marco had settled himself on a table near Lucas, reading a book without any aid of magic. Eyes running through words, fingers turning pages and all. He didn’t even acknowledge Oli’s arrival, eyes still glued on the texts, only lowering the book a little bit to take a peek.

“He came here on his own. Maybe even hours earlier.”

“Huh. I’ve instructed him to come with you guys,” Oli said carefully observing Lucas, still under deep meditation looking ever so tranquil. “Maybe he just got bored waiting for you two to catch up,” he teased, winking at the Italian.

Marco raised an eyebrow.

“What are you reading?” Oli asked. His arms were crossed, impatiently tapping his arm with his index finger as he browsed through catalogues of academic texts.  
  
“Basic utilities. Taking a break with light magic, it’s getting really boring.”

“Never in my life have I imagined someone getting bored of light magic,” He said, pulling a book out. “Especially the type you’re studying.”  
  
“Yeah, well,” Marco sighed. “Light magic is just as repetitive as all the other sorts of magic. I might argue that it’s overrated.”

“Again, with your hot takes Marco, I love it.” The Frenchman stepped back and ran his eyes over the tall shelves. He sighed heavily, shaking his head.

Oli rested his hand gently on a bookshelf. He closed his eyes and whispered a few words. Soon enough a few books started shaking and sliding off from their pockets. Oli stepped back as each one of them gently levitated in a neat line, presenting themselves to him.

He plucked one out and scanned through the pages. “No,” he said, pushing the book aside, returning it to where it came from. “No, no, not this one, ah there it is.” The Frenchman, with his left hand, waved upwards making the books waiting in line shimmy themselves back.

He called out Leon, who by now had been puppeteering a clone of himself made of shimmering blue light. The clone was wielding a sword, swinging it back and forth. He had his eyes nailed on it, concentrating hard as he tried to overcome his difficulty with the spell’s solidity.

The clone’s grip of the sword had been starting to slip off. Leon is trying too hard to keep it in, clenching his fist tightly in the process. However, despite his attempts, the sword falls off anyway, dropping to the ground with a metallic thud.

“Fantastic form,” Oli cheered, slowly applauding. “To think that you were just asking me about this days ago.”

  
Just three days to be exact. After knowing the spell he’d already managed to cast a clone in such a short time, wherein the journal entries of the spell’s inventor, he noted that he took twelve days to achieve that level and his other practitioners an average of sixteen.

Despite feeling slightly defeated once more, Leon felt comfort on Oli recognizing his progress.

Leon waved the clone away. He took a deep breath as he relaxed his arms.

“What’s that?” Leon asked, pointing on the book Oli had with him.

“This,” Oli said, waving the book, “this is homework.”

Leon ran to the Frenchman trying to snatch away the book from him. Oli, being taller, only needed to stand on tip-toes and hold the book up high to avoid Leon’s prying hands. But then, he felt a breeze hit his hand and the next thing he knew, he could no longer feel leather in his fingertips. He looked around for Leon and found him flipping through its pages, his back rested on a pillar of the other side of the central arena.

Oli laughed at himself, feeling silly for allowing Leon to sneak on him like that.

“Wordless casting? You can teach me this now.”  
  
Leon was grinning ear to ear. Finally, Oli thinks that he’s ready for wordless casting. No more awkward mumbling and compromising recitations. The German is just about done with that. Ever since he’d witnessed Marco and Oli seamlessly transitioning from one spell to another without a single word muttered, he’d been begging the Frenchman to teach him how to cast without words.

“Again, not so fast Leon. I have to make sure that you understand the essentials of worded casting.”

“But why? Isn’t wordless casting just imagining the word in your mind?”

Oli shook his head. 

“You don't just imagine the words. That will be equivalent to talking to yourself. Come here.”

Leon reluctantly peered his eyes away from the text and dragged himself towards him. Oli met him in the middle of the arena.

“Remember. Words are the medium of our abstraction. We channel our energy through it,” Oli reached out to the flowing river behind him and muttered a spell. The current rippled, and a thin vein of water parted from it, arching towards Oli’s hand. 

“With wordless casting, our bodies become the medium,” The Frenchman brought his arm to his center, the water curling along with it. He hovered his other hand, circling on top of it. 

“You must understand the mechanics of how we transform energy.” He stopped and placed his hands sideways, as if he was holding a ball. Slowly he spread his arms out by a few inches, the water distorting along with it. 

“Because instead of just words, we become the facilitators of that transformation,” The water turned into a cube of ice. Oli showed Leon the cube, levitating on his palm. It was clear throughout, a perfect crystal. Leon could not spot any cracks nor creases across the cube.

“And then we bend it into our will,” Oli swiped upwards, and the cube dispersed into mist. “Through words, we navigate the realm of abstract concepts such as energies and transformation and connect it to something tangible, manifesting it into a tactile substance.”

“Understanding the core of wordless casting opens the door to a plethora of advanced Arcaneology techniques.”

“Such as?”

“The Indexing Spell.”

Leon, snapped the book open and flipped through the pages of it, trying to find any mentions of an Indexing Spell.

“You won’t find it there as it’s another advanced technique.”

  
The German closed the book, slightly disappointed.

“What does it do?”

“Basically, you take one spellbook that you’ve read, scrutinized and practiced and it becomes a perfect extension of your mind.”

Leon raised his eyebrows, confused. “Then why use the Indexing Spell if you know the contents of a spellbook?”

“One can only memorize so many spells, Leon. Not everyone has perfect photographic memory.”

Oli sighed, “I think it’s best if we get a demo of an actual application instead.”

The Frenchman called over Marco. The Italian looked over to them, his eyes sharp, slightly annoyed at being disturbed over reading.

Marco dragged himself into the central arena, three books trailing after him. Leon stepped backwards as per instructions of Oli now casting his own cloning spell. A literal carbon copy of himself made of transparent violet light appeared from it’s very center. Its stance having its arms crossed over his face, bracing itself.

“You ready?” Oli asked.

Marco cracked his knuckles and made his neck joints pop. “Let’s do this.”

Oli looked over Leon, “Now, this is the power of wordless casting.”

Marco raised the index and middle finger of both his hands, almost making finger guns. He flung his arms wide open, one aimed at the clone, one aimed at his back slightly raised upwards. The books snapped open and rapidly revolved around him as it glowed giving Marco a ring of light.

Light burst from his arm pointed at his back. At first it seemed to travel away from Marco but then it arched inwards, its direction randomized but all aimed at the clone. Each burst of light whizzed towards the center, landing on their target at rapid succession, each giving a contained but powerful explosion.

Marco took a deep breath and relaxed his stance. The books slamming shut after him. Oli was giving him a slow applause.

“The indexing spell, and spell merger. You’re just flexing at this point Marco.”

  
“Well, of course, you pulled me away from my book. I had to make it worthwhile,” Marco replied with a wink.

“Those were merged spells?” Leon asked.

“Yes,” Marco answered. “My base spell was Light Bullets, and then applied a Scatter Spell on it and a Homing Spell just to make the strike unpredictable. Normally it would just fly off to the target in a single direction at the same time, making it pretty easy to dodge.”

“Very clever,” Oli lauded. However, he immediately frowned at Marco upon noticing something odd about the Italian. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Marco replied, almost groaning. He slowly rubbed his chest, with strain painted on his face. “Using three modes of casting at once, I thought I could take it but I think I still have a lot of room to improve on how I use energy.”

“Go ahead and rest, I’ll take it from here,” Oli said. Marco marched back to his seat and slowly sat down. 

“Like I said before,” Oli reiterated, turning to Leon, “Even those with experience still get strained from using advanced techniques. So you shouldn’t punish yourself if you don’t get it right away. Pushing yourself too hard will be a punishment of its own.”

Leon nodded, he understood every single word that Oli said and really wanted to take it to heart however his mind is already occupied, already picturing himself using awesome spells to aid in missions with Niklas and the others.

Still, he was curious of what Oli, an experienced Arcaneologist, can do with the Indexing Spell and the Spell Merger.

“Do you have a favorite application of those two techniques as well?” Leon asked, his voice a little bit excited that he hoped it would have sounded like.

“You want me to show you my favorite trick?” Giroud said, almost grinning at Leon.

“Yes, please.”

Oli chuckled lightly as he got into position. He stepped forward with his right foot. He curled his right hand with a slight gap and placed it over his lips. The Frenchman then took a deep breath and exhaled through his hand. A bright plume of red and orange fire shot on its other end.

The fire scattered into little wisps that formed themselves into fire birds with long tail feathers and a magnificent wing each giving off a high pitched screech similar to that of an eagle. Oli slowly waved both of his arms upwards, making the fire birds shoot towards the clone in the center.

Leon expected the fire birds to explode upon contact, but they did not even land on the clone. They just circled it, turning themselves into a fiery cylinder.

Oli, now his arms raised to his sides took another deep breath and slammed his hands together.

The birds were sucked inwards to the clone and before Leon could even react, there was a bright orange glare that caught his eye. The clone immediately burst into flames, spreading a couple of meters outward into a semi-circle. Oli sustained the explosion, his hands still clamped together.

Finally, he let go. He connected his hands by the fingertips, his palm pointing directly at his chest. With one last deep breath he gently pushed his hands downwards. The hellfire dying with it, the clone consumed.

He turned to Leon, expecting questions from the German and found him completely dazed by the display of power. Leon turned to Oli as well, the Frenchman now with a smug grin sprawled on his face.

“Hugo frowns upon extravagant use of power but I suppose I can treat myself every once in a while. Any questions?”

“What combination of spells was that made off?” Leon slowly asked. “I need to take some notes.”

“That will be, Summon Familiar, Enfire, Swarm Spell, and Incinerate,” Oli counted.

“Now, from how Marco and I listed the spells, did you notice something?”

Leon’s lips twitched as he looked inwards, thinking. It didn’t take long before he snapped his fingers and made a face to say ‘eureka’.

“Each spell has a logical succession from its predecessor. In Marco’s case, he wanted to randomize the direction of Light Bullets so he Scattered it, and then used a Homing Spell to redirect it.”

Oli nodded.

“And as for you,” Leon said, pointing at him. “The Swarm Spell only applies on Familiars, and Enflame provides it with a fire attribute making Incinerate compatible.”

Leon felt his cheeks burn hot as he tried to articulate more of what he understood from the demonstration. With a wide grin over his face, he felt pretty good figuring this out. All the time spent being stuck on the compound’s library is starting to pay off. It’s a good thing he heeded Oli and did not skip on the mechanics of their abstraction. It really does help in understanding complex concepts. 

“The Indexing Spell and Spell Merger is the logical progression of Wordless Casting because you can take two or more spells and combine it without uttering a single word.”

“Excellent, Leon.” Oli exclaimed, very impressed with the German. “You cannot skip from form one to form five because it would be illogical.”

“What happens if you do?”  
  
“It would simply not work, or in worse cases, blow up in your face,” Oli said, slightly cringing at himself. Leon can only wonder what kind of life experience he is looking back at right now.

“Is there a limit for the Indexing Spell?”

“Potentially none, if you are powerful enough.”

Leon glanced over to Lucas. The atmosphere around the kid is pretty thick with magic. Focusing on it made Leon’s arm tingle with static. It was interlaced seamlessly with the magic weaving through the library. Distinct, but just as powerful. He could only imagine what the kid can achieve with such technique.

“How far do you think he can take it?” Leon said, voicing his thought,

“Well, we could ask him,” Oli said, pertaining to Lucas.  
  
Leon turned to Oli, “I thought you said not to wake him up?”

“Well, knowing that he arrived here way earlier it must’ve been hours since he started, he really wanted to finish going through the entire catalog.”

With that, Oli straightened his posture and curled his hands into a fist. He pressed both his knuckles against each other and raised them on the level of his chest. He slowly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

The wind whistled past Leon. Another presence occupied the magic in the atmosphere, threading along with it. A strong static that ran through Leon’s senses, coming from a coalescence that just occurred, it’s energy pulsating through the air.

Perhaps this was Oli’s doing, Leon thought, connecting with Lucas through a plane of magic that he could not tap into yet. He looked over to Marco, still unfazed with what is happening. He doesn’t seem to be sensing what Oli is doing at the moment. That or he simply does not care, dismissing this as a common thing that the Frenchman and the Uruguayan would do.

Knowing how sensitive the Italian was with magic just earlier, Leon decided it was the latter.

Oli came back to his senses, staggering backwards. Leon almost dove to help him from falling down. He caught the Frenchman in his arms, grunting as he tried to heave him up. Luckily Oli got back to his feet, laughing softly at Leon.

  
“And that’s why you don’t enter any kind of stasis standing up.”

“What did you do?”  
  
Oli smiled at him and pointed to Lucas, “Wait for it.”

Marco sprang up, he looked over to Lucas, raised one eyebrow. His eyes scaled the entirety of the room and then back to Oli, with a sharp querying look on his face. Oli replied by gesturing towards the young Uruguayan. The Italian responded by stepping back.

He was right to do so because soon enough a bright glint flared from creases of Lucas’ eyelids. A heavy concentration of magic filled the air, enough that it was almost intoxicating to Leon. It felt dense, tangible on his fingertips. It rapidly took over the flow of energy weaved in the walls, making it distinctly Lucas’.

The ground shook a little, clouds of dust being ejected from shelves and corners long undisturbed.

Finally, Lucas eyes’ flung wide open with a bright blue glare. The glow spilled over the shelves behind him, each book illuminating one by one.

Leon can only watch as it spread over other books with a tidal wave of light, consuming the entire circumference of the library. Oli remained where he stood, a smug grin over his face, his eyes almost teary, full of pride for Lucas. Marco was walking by the shelves ,one hand brushing over the leather spines of each book. The same look of awe and disbelief painted on his face.

Lucas lit up each rune scribed over stone, each carved scripts, each embedded gemstones. Leon’s mind is racing, all at the same time he is trying to process a tonne of facts. First he thought that Marco pulling spells from three books is impressive, only to be shown up by Oli picking from books that aren’t even in his vicinity, but instead are tucked somewhere in the library. And now this, Leon is witnessing the greatest potential of his abstraction, a power that is unique only to them. Never could he have imagined something so spectacular Lucas performing this.

The glow from Lucas' eyes faded back to the familiar wide eyed glint. The same wide-eyed curious look that the young Uruguayan always shows. Something that made him very lovable. Earlier he looked like he was God himself but now it’s as if Lucas can be a friend to anyone.

The young Uruguayan tapped the floor and sprang upwards, gently landing to his feet. He took one deep breath and immediately put on an ear to ear grin, waving wildly at Leon and Oli. He approached them, almost with a light skip in his steps.

He slowed down to say hi to Marco.

“Hey, that was amazing,” the Italian said.

“I never really thought I could do it, thanks for the tips” Lucas replied, while he ran backwards.

“Leon!” Lucas exclaimed, “I’m so glad that you’re here.”

Leon was left stunned on his feet as the young Uruguayan dove to him for a hug. The German picked him up, the same way he picks up Joshua and others when celebrating a goal. He can’t help but smile as there was something about Lucas that made his enthusiasm very contagious.

“You were great out there,” Leon said, laughing as he put him down. “Since when were you able to do that?”  
  


“Oli and Marco taught me. I was really afraid I’d mess it up and blow the entire place but it worked, I’m so happy.”

But before Leon could even reply, Lucas hopped over to Oli with something important to tell him.

“You were right, this library was the richest in Arcaneology texts. It was fun going through all of it.”

“How long were you meditating?”

Lucas looked up, an eyebrow raised, counting with his mind. “About six hours. I’ve made a huge list of what I want for my next big project.”

“Of course you did, kid. I swear you are doing more than what Jan and I achieved at your age.”

Lucas pouted, “You want me to slow down?”

“Of course not, you goof. I’m saying, you really ought to rest every once in a while.” Oli said, roughing up Lucas’ hair.

Lucas tried to dodge Oli but ultimately given the height difference there's nothing much he can do. He fixed his hair by combing it with his fingers.

“And that’s why I chose to meditate with the spell. That way my body doesn’t get tired going through all this.”

That is pretty clever, Leon thought. If he can unlock wordless casting soon, he can do all sorts of amazing things with it. It will definitely boost him and finally make him catch up to Marco at least. Leon is not even dreaming of going near Lucas' level. The young Uruguayan is already leagues beyond him, and he’s just two years younger.

“Although, now my knees are feeling stiff, so I’m gonna take a stroll around Madrid.”  
  
Lucas’ stomach growled.

“And maybe grab something to eat. Alright I'm off text me if you want anything from the surface."

The Uruguayan swiped his arm from left to right, his body disappearing with it. And with that, the atmosphere of the library returned to being sulky and grim almost immediately after Lucas' cheeriness left the room.

"I swear that kid is flying too close to the sun."

"Are you worried?"

"Of course I am. Pursuit of knowledge is always noble, but in our field of study, knowledge is literally power. And power corrupts.”

“But at the same time, I can’t help but be proud.” Oli looks over at Marco, and back at Leon with a soft glint in his eye, a gentle grin drawn on his face. “I have three of the brightest young Arcaneologists in the world.”

Leon chuckled, “Marco, Lucas and… who’s the third one?”

“Hey,” Oli placed his hand on Leon’s shoulders, squeezing it. “Don’t count yourself out. You are just as gifted as those two.”

The Frenchman leaned forward, “I’ll tell you a secret.”

Leon leaned in as well, “Yeah?”

“You’re my favorite student.”

Leon’s eyes widened, his cheeks burned bright pink as he slammed his hands over his mouth, covering his embarrassingly silly wide grin. “Really?” he asked, almost jittery in his words.

“Yeah, you remind me a lot of myself. When I was your age, Busquets was just like Marco, and Vertonghen was as godly as Lucas.” Oli looked over around the library, a distant nostalgia beaming in his eyes. “Even now I still feel small versus the two of them, but seeing you work so hard and learn so fast, maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.”

“Now when you two are finished smooching, I’d like to practice with Leon on wordless casting please,” Marco said his arms crossed, lightly chuckling at the two, amused.

“Oh come here,” Oli said, extending his arm out and force pulling the Italian in, embracing the two of them in one big hug.  
  


“Too bad Lucas left,” Leon said.

“Don’t you worry about that, the kid loves the two of you, practically looks at you like his big brothers,” Oli replied.

“Plus, he’d probably get crushed by us three,” Marco added, also slightly struggling now. “Seriously, just from the muscles of you two.”

They broke off. Leon looked at Oli, laughing at the funny way Marco had to catch his breath. He had a wistful smirk on his face, his eyes soft and cheery. His heart fluttered as he found himself in awe of this unexpected brotherhood. He’s no longer the late bloomer outcast he initially thought he was.

The thing is, he never really was in the first place. Despite him thinking that, all of them had already accepted him from the very start.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is lightly edited, I just wanted to put this out right away because it's been long overdue hahaha. Also it's like 2:30 AM over here I am too light headed to scrutinize if something reads odd. Perhaps in the morning later on hahaha. Please excuse my errors and feel free to note them is something really is odd. I appreciate every comment :)
> 
> Background Infos  
> \- Leon is manifested pretty late therefore he wasn't discovered by Oli and mentored early on unlike Marco, and Lucas who manifested pretty early.  
> \- There's no strict specialization required in studying magic, you can learn whatever you want, but Marco decided to specialize on light magic in particular due to Gianluigi Buffon's abstraction (fic coming soon)
> 
> I really wanted to write in Sergio Busquets in this chapter but later on wanted to focus on the three and their mentor. Perhaps I could write about Sergio, Jan and Oli's apprenticeship back then haha. I'm curious to see what I could make of their dynamic.  
> \---  
> Please leave a comment or kudos if you like it, or whether you want to request something of my AU. It's a pretty big concept that I am developing and have a tonne of players I want to write.


End file.
